In another life
by SaraTheSpy
Summary: In a different world, where good guys can't always win, and bad guys can't always be redeemed, Sara never stayed with Gaito. Instead, she followed the rest of the mermaids to the human world. At first life was perfect, but then Coco, Karen, Noel and Sara, tired of seeing the trio get all the credit, decided to be the protagonists of their own story. And everything fell apart.
1. A different ending

Chapter 1- A different ending

"Sara, I thought you were the only one who could understand my loneliness." Gaito said, feeling betrayed by the one and only love of his life, the only person that ever supported him and made him feel good.

"My feelings for you have never changed. But if you don't forgive your past, this battle will rage on for all eternity!" Sara said, but the truth was that she was already feeling something else for him apart from pure love. Because she thought he'd understand, and that he'd stop this madness, however he didn't.

"I won't believe you, or anyone else!" He yelled and large bolts of lightning hit the orange princess. She fell on the ground, feeling powerless, while Gaito ordered his castle to destroy the human world.

"Please, stop this…" she begged, looking at him in the eye. For a moment, she thought he'd just put an end to this, he'd hug her and they'd live their own happy ending. But those things happen only in fairytales, and for as long as Sara could remember, her life had never been a fairytale.

This time was no different. "Shut up! You don't love me, you only love that stupid human, and you want to save him! You don't care about me!"

"I've loved you, Gaito. But it looks like it was my biggest mistake." she said and stood up. This hurt so much, because she had truly loved Gaito, but in the end, Taro Mitsuki was the first and greatest love of her life, and it was her duty to protect him from a man that was doing all he was doing just because of her.

The king of the Panthalassa tried to send new bolts of lightning against her, but an orange light was shining brightly around the mermaid princess of the Indian ocean, and it protected her as she sang, putting her heart and soul into this song like she had never done before.

 _Nanairo no kaze ni fukarete tooi misaki wo mezashiteta  
Yoake mae kikoeta merodi  
Sore wa totemo natsukashii uta_

Meanwhile, the rest of the mermaids that were waiting outside Gaito's room, heard Sara's song. They were confused. Out of everything they expected her to do, this was the thing they least expected.

"What is she doing?" Rina wondered.

Coco didn't know what had happened inside that room, but there was such a strong connection between her and Sara, her best friend that she hadn't seen in years, that she felt that the only right thing to do was sing.

 _Higashi no sora e to habataku toritachi_

Noel and Karen started singing, too. _  
Saa, takarajima ni nukeru chikamichi_

Rina, Hanon and Luchia were the last ones to sing. Everyone was feeling that they were one, at last. The seven mermaid princesses were finally united against their enemy.

 _Nanatsu no umi no rakuen  
Arashi no yoru no ato ni wa ai wo tsutaerutame inochi ga mata umareru  
Nanatsu no kuni no merodia  
Daremo ga itsuka wa koko wo tabidatsu hi ga kitemo  
Watashi wa wasurenai_

Aqua Regina showed up, surrounded by the brightest light they had ever seen, giving the girls a new, powerful song. Sara transformed into her idol form, wearing a long, orange gown with black details. Even though she didn't want to admit it, the darkness that had turned her pearl black was still somewhere in there, very deep below the surface, but it was there.

They won the battle and everyone left the castle that was collapsing, as its master had lost all his power. Sara was the last one to leave. She looked Gaito in the eye for a moment, but she saw nothing there. She hoped that, in the end, a miracle would happen that would rid her of all the pain, but she had to make her choices, and those choices brought sadness with them.

She swam away from the castle, following the other mermaids from a little distance, because she didn't want them to see her crying. Then she thought of Taro, of all the memories they had together, and all the new ones they'd create, and she smiled. It was time to put the past behind, and look forward to a bright future.

They finally set foot on land and went to the Pearl Piari. Walking around the city streets was a feeling Sara had forgotten, and it felt good. Certainly, there would be lots of oportunities on land, oportunities that she didn't want to lose. Now that she had a second chance to live her life free, she wasn't going to make mistakes.

Sara, Coco, Noel, Karen and Taro were each given a room at the Pearl Piari, where they would stay, at least for now. Coco and Sara sat in Coco's room.

"Wow, I've never been in the human world before!" Coco exclaimed, examining every detail of her new room. "It's great!"

"Yes, it is." Sara whispered.

"Are you ok? You don't look very well."

"I'm fine, Coco. I love it here, and I'm happy to be with you after all those years."

"Me too, Sara. Me too." the yellow mermaid said and hugged her best friend. They were happy. And nothing could ever ruin this.


	2. Things begin to fall apart

Chapter 2- Things begin to fall apart

The seven mermaids lived a peaceful life after their battle against Gaito. Noel was studying medicine and Karen was studying psychology at the local university. Sara and Coco were too old to go to school, so they found a job. Coco was a highly-paid attorney and Sara joined the police. The four of them worked and studied until very late, so they had very little time to hang around with the trio. However they tried to be there whenever a villain attacked, and join the other mermaids in the battle against him.

It finally seemed that Luchia, Hanon and Rina were perfectly capable of beating such a minor threat by themselves, and Luchia liked bragging about it, like they never needed the other four mermaids.

Karen's P.O.V.

Karen was swimming in the sea one night, thinking how disappointed she was. She had returned to the Pearl Piari after her psychology class that afternoon, and she found Luchia and Hanon talking to Hippo loudly about their new battle against the enemy, and how they beat the villain all by themselves. Karen felt angry and she went straight to her room.

So she was swimming and she heard Luchia and Hanon's voices.

"Pink pearl voice!"

"Aquamarine pearl voice!"

Karen swam towards the surface to see what was going on. There was a woman there, with a long, shiny dress, blonde hair and a black crown. She seemed more evil than any other person Karen had met in her life, so much that she wanted to transform and defeat her in a moment, but she resisted the urge. It was made clear to her that she was not needed, after all.

The strange thing was that there were hundreds of people gathered at the beach, wanting to see what was going on, and they weren't scared at all. Of course they weren't. Luchia and Hanon would save them.

 _Arashi no umi ni utarete makesou na ima wo  
Furiharae ai wo mitsumete kono mune ni  
Tachiagaru yo nando demo yakusoku no tame ni  
Shakunetsu no RAITO wo abite shibuki ga mau_

The two princesses sang in unison, but the woman was not affected, instead she stood there, laughing at them with her evil laugh.

"Nice try, girls, but you can't affect me with your song! I am Haruko, the princess of the light! Strongest than any other villain you've ever battled against!"

She raised her arms towards the sky and was ready to sing. Karen felt scared, and so did the people, realizing that nothing could protect them, not even the two princesses.

"Purple pearl voice!" she yelled and appeared out of the water, a purple light shining brightly around her. She took the microphone in her hand and started to sing, hoping that this time the song would defeat Haruko.

 _Asahi ga ureshikute Omowazu namida ga deru.._

 _Dokoka de miteru ka na? Onnaji sora dakara tsudzuiteru_

 _Yume wa mada, yume demo (Let's stay ima anata ga) Iru basho o shinjite_

 _OORORA no kaze ni notte "my wish" todoiteru?_

 _Mukae ni yuku yo datte zettai aitai yo_

 _Juujisei no shita ima wa Two Life hanaretatte_

 _Kokoro wa hitotsu Onaji One Wish dakishimete_

Haruko screamed. "What have you done? How could you beat me?" She was then surrounded by a blinding light and disappeared before they could chase her.

Of course, all eyes were on Luchia and Hanon, while some people pointed at Karen, wondering who she was. She transformed into her mermaid form and dived into the water, followed by the duet.

"We could have beaten her by ourselves, you know." Hanon said.

"Fine." Karen replied. "Then I guess I'm not needed."

Noel's P.O.V.

Noel was at the Pearl Piari and she was looking for Rina. Even though they were best friends, they didn't have much time to spend together lately.

"Rina!" the indigo mermaid exclaimed when she finally found her friend. "Do you want to go for a walk with me? I've finished studying earlier today."

"I'm sorry Noel, but I have to meet Masahiro in half an hour, and I don't know what to wear. Maybe another time, ok?"

"Ok…" Noel whispered and left. She then went to swim. Alone. She tried to hold back her tears, but she couldn't. This wasn't the first time that Rina met her boyfriend instead of Noel. The first time, she told herself that Rina would make it up to her and go for a walk with her in a few days, but this never happened. Things continued to fall apart instead of getting better.

Rina had changed. She cared about a boy, which wasn't really bad, but not knowing what to wear was unusual for the green mermaid. She usually grabbed a set of clothes from her closet and wore them, but now she was actually _looking_ for the best thing to wear, so that she would impress Masahiro. It's not that Noel wasn't happy for her best friend. She was. The problem was that she wanted just a little bit of Rina's attention. She wanted them to be like they used to.

At some time, Noel saw Karen swim fast towards her, and she understood that her sister was angry.

"Noel? Why are you crying?" Karen asked.

"Rina is going out with her boyfriend again, and she didn't want to go out with me!"

"Hey, don't cry" she tried to comfort her sister, but the truth was that Noel was right to be sad.

"I'll be fine. Now tell me, why are you so angry?"

Karen told her sister the whole story with Haruko and the two mermaids.

"I'm so tired, Karen." the indigo mermaid complained. "At the beginning, we were fine, but now it's like they've forgotten our existence!"

"I won't tell you it's ok, because it isn't. But I have to tell you this: we can write our own story. One that we will be the protagonists."

Sara's P.O.V.

Sara was returning to the Pearl Piari after work. It was late at night, but she preferred to walk because the police station was very close to the hotel, and she always went on foot. While walking close to the beach, she saw a large crowd gathered there. She also saw Hanon and Luchia, and a new villain that introduced herself as Haruko. When the two girls lost the battle against Haruko, Sara was ready to transform and help them, because the woman looked really dangerous.

Then, Karen appeared out of the water in her idol form. Sara smiled, knowing that her friend would handle this enemy, and she left.

On her way to the Pearl Piari, she saw Hanon and Taro. She hid behind a tree to see what they were doing, even though she could already imagine.

Hanon was holding Taro's hand and stood as close to him as possible. She was talking all the time about how perfect he was at playing the piano, and how perfect he was at anything he did, and Sara was angry. She was so angry that a familiar song started to play in her head.

 _Otogibanashi saigo no peeji wa ka…_

 _No_ she thought. _I promised Taro that I'll be a mermaid princess again, and that's what I'm going to do._

Instead of singing, she took a step forward and revealed herself. She just looked at Hanon, which made the younger girl disappear before saying anything else.

Sara and Taro were now alone.

"Sara, I swear, I didn't…"

"I know."

This was the only thing she said. Many people would assume that she was angry at him, but she wasn't. She just didn't want to speak, because she always valued the silence between them, which was even better than words. Taro knew that, and he just walked with her. Hanon was a good girl, and maybe he did like her a little bit, but when he found Sara again, he promised himself that he was not going to let anything ruin their relationship.

Coco's P.O.V.

Coco was in her room when Sara entered. The yellow mermaid was sitting at her desk next to a pile of paper, writing something that looked like it was very important.

"What are you doing there?" the orange mermaid asked, assuming that it was probably some report for work, but she asked anyway.

"I'm trying to write a new song."

"A song?"

"Yes. I don't have one, and neither does Noel. Christmas is in a month, and I want to give it to her as a Christmas present."

"Maybe you could ask Aqua Regina to give you a song" Sara suggested.

"If she wanted to give us image songs, she would have done it until now, and she should have. But no, I think that it's all up to us now."

"I guess you're right. What do the rest of the princesses say about it?"

"You're the only one that knows about it, and I'm not planning to change this until Christmas."

Coco sounded passionate. She sounded like she wanted to make a change, to make things better for them. Because things for them weren't as good as they were for the trio, and the yellow mermaid was right. Aqua Regina should have done something.

In the end, however, it looks like every change we want to make, is up to us. That was what they were going to do: change the world. Or, as Karen put it, write their own story.


	3. The mysterious girl and her mermaid

Chapter 3- The mysterious girl and her mermaid

The day after Haruko's attack, Sara, Coco, Noel and Karen were gathered at Noel's room in the Pearl Piari.

"I think we should do some research on Haruko." Sara suggested "She looked far more dangerous than the black beauty sisters or the dark lovers, and I don't think she's alone. Those people always work for someone."

"It's a good idea, but where can we find information on a sea princess? We had libraries in all of our kingdoms, but all of them are destroyed except for Luchias, and I have no intention of asking for her permission." Karen dissaggreed.

"We can go to the library here." Noel proposed. "I've visited it many times, and it's amazing how many books about mermaids they have."

"That sounds good." Coco aggreed and they all went to the library.

They looked around for a while and then each of them returned to their table with a pile of books. Noel left her books on the table and then remembered that there was another one that might be interesting, so she went back to the shelf where it was. She grabbed the book and just as she was ready to leave, she saw a girl sitting alone, crying. The girl was young, same age as Luchia, and she had short brown hair and brown eyes. She wore a school uniform.

Noel really wanted to know what was going on, but she heard Coco's voice and joined her friends. She didn't forget the girl, however, and she kept in mind to investigate later. They went through all those books until, more than an hour later and as they were all about to give up, Coco finally told them she had found something.

"This book here says that, a very long time ago, a woman with powers of light had caused a huge destruction, destroying the seven mermaid kingdoms and a whole generation of mermaid princessses. But she wasn't alone. She also had another woman with her, one with moon powers. The legend says that the servants of each of the mermaid princesses took the pearls and started the new generation of mermaids that defeated the two women. However, they weren't fully destroyed, and the seven mermaid princesses combined their powers to create a red pearl and hide it on land. When the two villains will return, a human will find the red pearl and use it to help the mermaid princesses."

"Does it say anything about that human? Where she lives, what she looks like…?" Sara asked.

"It doesn't. This human could be anyone, and not only a girl. I think that practically anyone in the world could be the red pearl prince or princess." Coco answered.

"And the red pearl is only a legend. We don't even know if it exists." Karen said.

"And if it doesn't exist… What can we do against Haruko and the other woman?" Noel wondered.

"We can only prepare ourselves. Maybe we're stronger than that generation and we'll defeat them once and for all." Sara said.

"Well… Maybe, but first we have to wait for the moon princess to show up, and find who she works for. Does the book say anything about that?" Karen asked.

"No. Maybe they work alone." Coco assumed.

"Or maybe they work for different people each time" Sara added.

They finished their research, kept some notes and left the library.

"Go home, I'll find you later" Noel said suddenly on their way to the Pearl Piari and ran back to the library before any of her friends had the time to say anything.

She walked up the stairs and went straight to the table where that lonely girl was, but she wasn't there. She looked out of the window, and she still didn't she the girl. Dissapointed, Noel left for the Pearl Piari to meet her friends.

Noel's P.O.V.

Later that evening, Noel went to swim. She was taking a major exam in two days and she wanted to realx. Swimming close to the beach she saw the girl from the library sitting on the sand, crying again. The indigo mermaid felt sad for the girl. She started singing, swimming back and forth and the girl just stood there, looking at the mermaid. It looked like she was feeling better now. She chose to sing Karen's song, as she didn't have her own, hoping that a borrowed song would have the same effect that her own would have. It finally seemed that it worked, as the girl smiled.

The next day, the same time, the girl was at the exact same spot of the beach, waiting for her mermaid to show up. Noel came, and this went on for a week. Then, one night, after the song, Noel was ready to dive in the sea and leave as always, but she heard the girl's voice:

"Hey! Can you please stay?"

Noel turned around and went closer to the girl. "Well, yes. I think I can."

"Can I talk to you? I feel like you're the only one I can talk to!"

"Of course you can! Tell me, what's wrong?"

"I was in Hawaii in the summer, and I met a boy. He was alone there and I took care of him. Then we returned here, and a girl from school keeps claiming that my boyfriend used to be her boyfriend. He doesn't remember that girl, but every time she shows up, he doesn't pay any attention to me. I've heard her talking to her friends at school so many times about me, and she always calls me "that bitch". I don't want to be the villain of this story…"

As the girl continued telling Noel her story, the mermaid princess understood everything. This girl was Mikaru, "the bitch" that Luchia was constantly talking about. She knew the story. Even though Luchia always presented Mikaru as the bad one in the story, Noel always felt sad for that girl. And now she had the chance to meet her and make her feel better.

"Don't worry, Mikaru. I'll make them pay." was all she said before she dived back into the water, without hearing the girl shouting "Where do you know my name from?"

For a week now, they had forgotten their anger for the trio. Now, after meeting Mikaru, Noel was twice as determined to make Luchia pay.


	4. The greatest sacrifice

Chapter 4- The greatest sacrifice

Karen's P.O.V.

Two weeks before Christmas, Karen and Noel were sitting at the beach, talking.

"What are we going to wear at the Christmas party?" Karen asked.

"What do you mean? Everybody will be wearing their idol dresses."

"I mean that our dresses are awful. Mine has more white than purple, and yours isn't really better. Just compare them to Luchia and Hanon's dresses." the purple mermaid complained.

"I don't think my dress is awful, but… let's say you're right. What do you propose to do about that?"

"I thought that I could design dresses for Sara, Coco, me and you. All by myself."

"What? How is changing your idol dress even possible?"

"We'll try. We've done so many things in the past that we considered impossible. At least we can try."

Noel smiled. She knew that, when her sister decided to do something, nothing would stop her. And she was right to want to make a change. Even though Noel wasn't brave enough to go to Aqua Regina and announce that they'd be wearing whatever they wanted, Karen's desire to do it wasn't wrong. As Karen said, they would write their own story. This demanded sacrifices, but it needed to be done.

Coco's P.O.V.

Coco was alone in her room, reading the lyrics of the song she had written for Noel again and again. It was Christmas and in one hour there would be a party at the Pearl Piari for the mermaids and their boyfriends, where everyone would sing their own song, so she wanted it to be perfect. After looking at it for the hundredth time, she called Noel to her room.

"What is it?" the indigo mermaid asked.

"I've got a present for you."

"Aren't we supposed to give each other presents later at the party?"

"This one is special. Take it."

Coco gave Noel a piece of paper. At first Noel thought this was a joke, but then she unfolded the paper and understood she was looking at the lyrics of a song.

"Tsubasa?"

"Yes, that's the title. Do you like it?"

"Yes, of course I do! You wrote a song for me! Why?"

"I thought that it's so unfair that we're the only ones that don't have a song, and I decided to change it."

At that moment, Karen stormed into the room, followed by Sara. They were wearing dresses that the other girls had never seen before, and each of them was holding another dress. Sara gave the dress to Coco and Karen gave it to Noel.

"What do you think?" the purple mermaid asked excitedly. She seemed very proud of her work.

"They're perfect." Coco said. "You made them yourself?"

"Yes. And they're not common dresses. They're your new idol dresses."

"They… what?" Coco exclaimed.

"Idol dresses." Noel answered. "Karen made them because she thinks our dresses are awful"

"Well, she's not completely wrong." Coco said and went to wear her new outfit.

After they wore the dresses, they made each other's hair, and finally, Karen presented the last surprise of the night.

"These are yours" she said, giving each of them a crown.

"Amazing!" Coco yelled and wore her crown. "Perfect! Now we're going to be the best!"

Sara's P.O.V.

When Taro saw Sara, the only thing he said was "Wow. You're gorgeous."

"Thanks" she replied and kissed him softly. "Can we go for a drink afterwards? Alone?"

"You're going to leave your friends alone?"

"Karen and Coco are the life of the party, but I'm not exactly the one to dance like crazy until midnight. I just want to go somewhere where we can be alone, just the two of us."

"And it's also because you hate Rina"

"Well… Yes." For a moment, Sara thought that he'd tell her that hating Rina was bad, since they were both mermaid princesses, but he didn't.

"Ok, we can go if you want." he said instead.

They both smiled and went to the party.

When the four mermaids entered the room, everybody looked at them, wondering what was going on.

"What are you four doing?" Rina asked Sara, looking at Sara's black crown. Her original dress had some black details, but this one was overdoing it, in Rina's opinion.

"We decided to wear something different today." she simply said. She could have said a lot of rude things, and she was so tempted to say them, but their dresses weren't Rina's fault. It wouldn't be right to start a fight with Rina over a subject that was completely Aqua Regina's responsibility.

Rina was trying to control herself, too. She wanted so much to make a sarcastic comment about all the black in Sara's dress, and the only thing that stopped her from doing it was that there were people looking at them. She thought that Sara acted as if she was the only one that had a tragic past. Well, she wasn't. Rina was tempted a million times to turn black and leave, but she had responsibilities as a mermaid princess. She thought that Sara was a coward that didn't have the courage to stay and fight.

Sara, on the other hand, thought that Rina was selfish and that she always wanted to prove herself, to prove she was strong even though she was weak and vulnerable on the inside. Of course, Sara always hated Rina for betraying Noel. That's why those two never got along well with each other.

Before singing together, the mermaid princesses took turns and each of them sang their image song. Koi wa nandarou, Ever blue, Star jewel, Aurora no kaze, Return to the sea (part 2, of course) and…

"I can't do it" Noel whispered to Coco.

"Yes, you can!"

"No! What am I supposed to say?"

"Ok, I'll go first. But promise me that you'll go after I finish"

"Ok." Noel reluctantly aggreed. It wasn't that she didn't like the song Coco wrote for her. She had loved it from the first moment. It was just that she was nervous. She hadn't sang on her own before, and going on that stage and telling everyone you are jealous of them for having their own songs while you don't, isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world.

Coco took her guitar and sat on a chair.

"I'm going to sing a song called Hana no sasayuki. I wrote it myself, because I didn't have my own song to sing. I hope you like it."

When she finished, everyone applauded. They hadn't heard Coco sing on her own before, and they didn't know how beautiful her voice was. She sounded more and more confident as she sang, and it was a beautiful feeling. Ever since she was a child, she was waiting for this moment, and when it wasn't given to her by Aqua Regina, she decided to give it to herself.

Noel replaced Coco on the stage. Looking at all of them staring at her, expecting her to be as perfect as Coco, she froze. She said nothing.

Karen ran and stood next to Noel, with her microphone in her hands.

"Noel just wanted to say that she's going to amaze you all".

This gave the indigo mermaid the strength to grab the guitar and start singing. She closed her eyes, at first her voice was not very loud, but it grew louder and stronger, as perfect as Coco's. They all applauded.

They started to sing in pairs and the first to go were Karen and Noel singing Legend of mermaid while the rest of them walked around, eating, drinking and talking to each other.

After less than half an hour, Rina and Masahiro left the room. Sara didn't pay much attention to them, what they talked about was none of her business. Then, seconds after that, a blinding light appeared, and the mermaids understood that Haruko had come. After Haruko had made her presence known to everyone, the light was replaced by total darkness. Sara, Coco, Noel and Karen understood that this was the moon princess.

"Hello, mermaid princesses. I am Haruko, the light princess."

"And I am Tsukiko, the moon princess. We're here to destroy you"

They raised their hands, but this time nobody had the time to transform or do anything else in general. When the two villains were together, they were unbeatable.

The mermaid princesses and their boyfriends were unable to move. When the women started singing, they felt unbearable pain. They'd never seen someone that strong before. They felt powerless.

Sara knew there was only one way out, and it demanded a great sacrifice. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the lyrics of a very familiar song. She started singing.

 _Otogibanashi saigo no PEEJI wa  
Kakikaerarete higeki ni kawari  
Tatta hitotsu shinjiteta  
Hito no kokoro sae mo miushinau  
Ai mo yume mo marude  
Suna no oshiro mitai na no  
Hakanaku kowarete yuku no yo  
Sore o nozomanakutatte_

When the black beauty sisters sent a tsunami against the city and the trio weren't able to stop it, this song had worked. Now, with her orange pearl, Sara sang it again, hoping that it would help.

 _Dakedo ima mo wasurerarenai no  
Anata ga itsumo utatta MERODII  
Mune ni hibiku tabi itsuka  
Modoreru ki ga suru no ano koro ni _

Tsukiko and Haruko kept staying there, looking at her and thinking she was foolish if she believed that she could defeat them. Sara saw that, but she was determined to win this battle. She had no intention of being captured and she wanted to keep her pearl. She concentrated harder. And the next moment, the dress Karen had designed turned all black from top to the botom, as well as Sara's hair. _  
Kitto kitto kaereru no  
Tsunagareta kusari furiharai  
Futatsu no sekai ga  
Musubareta aoi umi e_

Sara's song hurt the two villains, but it caused pain to the mermaid princesses, too. Sara continued singing. They were in so much pain that they didn't have a chance of escaping, but at least she would save herself. Otherwise they would all be captured. With her being free, they had hope.

 _Zettai!  
Ai dake wa subete o norikoeru  
Unmei kimeru seiza mo kaerareru  
Kiete shimae okubyou na uso mo ima mo..._

Sara ran out of the room and transformed to her human form, her hair returning back to their original orange color. Outside the room she saw Rina. It seemed that the green mermaid had seen the whole thing from outside the room, but she was too far away to be affected.

Sara grabbed Rina by the hand and led her to the car while the she took her human form too. She drove with the other girl being too shocked to speak.

"What did you do?" Rina finally yelled. "You… They were captured because of you!"

"There was nothing else I could do! They would be captured in both cases, and I preferred to at least save myself!"

"Yourself! Of course! There's nothing else that you ever cared about!"

"Look, Rina, we can continue fighting forever, if you want, or try to find a way and save them. We read in a book that there is a red pearl that will help us in our battle against Tsukiko and Haruko. Let's look for it."

"Great! All our hopes are based on a legend, and we don't even know if it's true or not."

"I think it's true. In the end, as you said, all our hopes are based on it. There's no other hope."

"And where is it supposed to be?"

"I don't know. But I have and idea as to where to start looking."

 **Author's note:** **I want to say thank you to those who reviewed, favorited and followed this story. This really motivates me to continue writing! I hope you like it as much as I like writing it. Let me know what you think, even if it's going to be a negative comment.**


	5. The quest for the red pearl

Chapter 5- The quest for the red pearl

Narrator's P.O.V.

"I don't know. But I have and idea as to where to start looking." Sara said.

Rina looked at her, still angry about what happened.

"I think Luchia chose this particular place on land because all the other generations of mermaids that went to the human world lived here, too. If the pearl exists, it should be somewhere around here" the orange mermaid continued.

"There's a cave nearby, we can start from there. It's isolated and nobody ever goes there"

"That's exactly what I was going to say. First of all, however, we have to buy some more comfortable clothes"

They stopped at the shopping mall and grabbed the first set of clothes they saw, paid for them and left in a hurry. They decided not to stop anywhere for a long time, as the villains would surely be looking for them. Sara had taken part in an undercover mission as a police officer, so she knew how to hide.

The cave was dark and nobody was there, exactly like they had predicted. It was huge, still they didn't get separated. They had to stick together now, no matter how much they hated it.

After more than an hour of searching for the pearl, they found a small box on a rock. Sara took it in her hands and opened it, hoping that this was the end of their quest. Of course, she couldn't be right. An item so precious wouldn't be so easy to find.

Instead of the pearl, in the box there was a piece of paper.

" _Congratulations, you've found the first piece of evidence. Finding the pearl itself won't be so easy, though, so prepare yourselves for a dangerous quest. The next place you have to go is the North Pacific kingdom. The pink mermaid will know where exactly to look at"_

"The pink mermaid?" Rina exclaimed. "Now what are we going to do?"

"Looking for the pearl won't be as difficult as getting past all Tsukiko and Haruko's servants that will surely be guarding the castle"

"So what are we going to do? If we go there, they'll catch us immediately"

"I have an idea, but I need your help. Have you ever been to Luchia's castle?"

"Yes, a couple of times."

"Do you remember hearing about a place that could be appropriate for hiding something?"

"There are one or two such rooms there, but how will we even get in the castle?"

"Look, the servants are not as strong as their bosses, so I think we'll be able to beat them."

"We'll defeat the ones at the enterance, but the rest of them will call Tsukiko and Haruko. When they arrive, we're dead." There was a short pause. "Oh, now I understand what you mean. We'll move fast and leave before they come, right?"

"Yes. It's our only chance"

"But... Without Luchia, how do we know which room to look at? There are many possibilities"

"We won't know. We'll just go fast enough to look at all the rooms."

"And... That means we'll get separated?"

"Yes."

"But you said..."

"Do you have any better ideas?"

"Ok, we'll stick to your plan" Rina aggreed. She didn't love being with Sara, but at least together they'd be safer. She had no intention of ending up a prisoner in Tsukiko and Haruko's hands.

As they were leaving the cave, Sara thought she saw someone move. She looked but there was nobody there, and she just told herself that it was her imagination.

It wasn't. But Sara didn't know it then.

They saw the servants around the castle from far away. There were a hundred or more of them, but they didn't look half as scary as the two women they worked for. The two mermaids looked at each other and nodded, then started singing as they swam towards the enterance.

The green and orange pearls were shining and this was strong enough to help them get past the guards. The first part of the plan was done. Now they had to find the next piece of evidence.

Rina would look at two rooms, and Sara at another two, then meet at the back door and leave.

Rina's P.O.V.

The first room Rina went to was Luchia's room. They assumed that this would be a possible place for the previous pink mermaid to hide stuff important to her, as well as the piece of paper containing the evidence they needed. Fortunately there weren't any servants inside the building, probably because they assumed that the ones guarding it from the outside would be enough.

There was nothing in this room. The green mermaid looked everywhere but she moved to the next room when she saw that there was nothing.

The second room was Nikora's room, or the room of the most trusted servant of each pink princess. There, Rina saw another small box on the desk, identical to the one they found at the cave. It was a jewel box, and inside it there was a necklace with colorful pearls, not a piece of paper.

She didn't know what this could mean, but the box made her believe that this was what she was looking for. She was going to look around for some more minutes and see if she could find anything else, but then she heard loud voices from the outside of the castle and she left the room, hoping that she had what she needed.

Sara's P.O.V.

Sara didn't find anything in any of the two rooms. She was convinced she was doing something wrong and she was going to go back to the first room again, when she heard loud voices. The orange mermaid swam as fast as she could to the back door, hoping that at least Rina had found something.

Narrator's P.O.V.

They met and swam away as fast as they could. The two mermaids were lucky and they weren't seen leaving by any of the servants, because then they weren't sure they'd survive the battle.

When they were at a safety distance, they went to the surface and found a remote beach with no people. They went there to get some rest before they could continue their quest.

"So... Did you find anything?" Sara asked.

"Yes... But I don't know what it is. It was in a box identical to the one in the cave."

"Show it to me"

Sara looked at the pearl necklace without knowing what to do with it. "So that's what "it's not going to be so easy" meant." she said.

"This one is not difficult, it's impossible! I mean, what can we do now? Are we doomed?"

"I don't know. Maybe we can try to sing" Sara suggested.

They tried every song they knew, even the new songs Coco wrote. Nothing worked.

"Perhaps there are other stuff like this in every mermaid castle, and we'll know what the message is when we gather all of them" Rina said.

"We can't do that. All the castles except for Luchia's are damaged."

"We can't do anything else, either. This was the end"

Just as they were ready to throw the necklace back into the sea and completely give up trying, Aqua Regina appeared in front of them in her long, white dress.

"Aqua Regina?" they said at the same time.

"Mermaid princesses, don't lose faith. You've been very brave until now, and there's one last challenge for you."

"What is it?" Sara asked.

"You have to go back home. There you'll find what you're looking for."

"You mean commit suicide. Because that's what this is."

"Princess Sara, you have to be strong in order to save your friends"

"I don't know what you think, but I have no intention of going back there and getting caught by the hundreds of evil servants"

"They won't recognize you if you don't transform. After all, you escaped them once before"

Sara wanted to protest again, but Rina whispered in her ear "She's right, Sara"

"At least tell us what we have to do" Sara said, but Aqua Regina had already started to fade away.

"I'm too weak to stay here any longer. Good luck, mermaid princesses."

"She comes here, tells us to do the stupidest thing in the world and expects us to just obey without even knowing why we're doing what we're doing!" the orange mermaid complained.

"We knew she had limited time, since five pearls are possessed by the enemy, and instead of letting her speak you started a fight with her! If you hadn't protested, she would have the time to explain to us!"

"Don't blame me for what happened!"

"Who else is there to blame?"

"Aqua Regina! She should be more honest to us! All my life I don't ever remember her giving a clear explanation about something and offering us information that was actually helpful!"

"I understand that you and your friends want to do what you call "write your own story" Rina had now stopped shouting. "But you have to understand that you're not the best in the whole universe. Sometimes there are people whose orders you have to obey."

"If you say so..." Sara said ironically and started walking. She'd fight with Rina forever if they had the time, but they didn't.

They rented a car and drove to the city where they lived, which wasn't very far away. It only took them three hours to get there. The two girls went to the Pearl Piari. Inside, everything was broken and shards of glass were all around the floor. In their rooms, the drawers were open and the books were torn. The enemies had searched everywhere for whatever they were looking for.

"Now what?" Sara wondered.

"Let's look at the necklace again"

Rina reached for the necklace in her bag, but she didn't find it there. She opened the bag and threw its content on the floor. She had lost it. Their only hope of saving their friends was gone.

The two mermaids stood there without talking. Time went by without them finding the strength to do anything. At some time they heard footsteps outside the room, yet they stayed there. If it was an enemy, getting caught now wouldn't make any difference.

A girl opened the door, and the two mermaids looked at her, realizing it was Mikaru. She was wearing a pearl necklace identical to theirs, but red.

"Mikaru?" Rina exclaimed. "What is this necklace? Where did you find it?"

"I found it on the ground, but it didn't look like this. It was a necklace with colorful pearls which I liked very much, and I took it. When I went home and had a shower, it started shining and changed into this shell necklace, which led me to you"

"Now we can go to face Tsukiko and Haruko" Rina turned to Sara.

"Probably. But where will we find them?"

"We'll swim around for a while and when the servants approach us, we'll tell them to lead us to their bosses. Those women won't resist the challenge."

They followed Rina's plan, but before that they explained to Mikaru what was going on. The plan worked. Each of the servants had a magic wand, which they waved in the air and everything around them disappeared. Some seconds later, they realized they were in a completely different place: a huge castle.

They were in the throne room. Tsukiko and Haruko were sitting on their thrones next to each other, staring at the red pearl. Next to the thrones there were the five mermaids they had imprisoned.

The two women got up and started walking towards Sara, Rina and Mikaru.

"Mikaru, transform! Now!" Sara yelled.

"Red pearl voice!"

The girl transformed into her idol form, and she was beautiful. It was the first time they ever saw her being happy.

 _Watashi nari ni sodateta negai  
Kirei na hana wo sakasou tte _

Even though the song she sang was a sad song that she used to sing when she cried, now it sounded beautiful and her voice wasn't broken. She believed in herself.

 _Yume ga kanawanai nara akirameru nara  
Hitotsubu no tane maite okou _

The five mermaids were now free, and the villains were unable to move. This song caused them so much pain that they couldn't attack any more.

 _Ima wa toumei na kaze no naka  
Shizuka ni nemuritai no tsubasa wo daite_

Sara and Rina moved towards their friends, followed by Mikaru.

 _Takusareta unmei no yukue sagasou  
Hitohira no maichiru hane _

Of course, those two were more cunning than any other villain, and they always had a back-up plan. In two minutes, the whole room was full of their people.

 _Shinkirou ni sasowareru you ni  
Konna basho made kita keredo _

Normally, they were supposed to feel the same pain as their bosses, but when Mikaru saw all of them approach them, she was so shocked that she stopped singing. She had never fought against so many people. She just couldn't do it.

"What happened?" Rina asked, scared.

"I can't do it!"

"What can we do? Without the red pearl, we don't stand a chance!" Rina yelled.

Her words were proven when the servants caught Luchia and Hanon again. Rina transformed and was ready to fight, even though she knew she'd lose.

Karen, Noel and Coco were holding each other's hand. Sara grabbed Coco's hand and shouted for Rina to join them.

"I can't go without my friends!"

"Rina, come on! There's nothing you can do for them!"

"No. This time, I'm not leaving them"

Sara didn't want to be the reason why her fellow mermaid princesses got captured by the enemy. Not again. Karen saw that and took the wand from Sara's hand. She waved it in the air and the four girls along with Mikaru disappeared.

"Karen? What did you do?" Sara was angry. Not at Karen, but at herself, for not being able to correct her mistake and instead making things worse.

"I saved us. I didn't know what else to do"

"So what are we going to do?" Coco wondered. "Without the red pearl, we can't go there again"

"We'll train Mikaru. We'll help her be stronger the next time." Noel stated "I'll help her, because I am her secret mermaid friend."

"There's one last question I need you to answer" Sara said. "Do you know who those women work for?"

"Yes" Karen whispered. She knew that the answer would hurt her friend. "They work for Gaito"


	6. A story ends and a new one begins

Chapter 6- A story ends and a new one begins

Narrator's P.O.V.

Some seconds passed, and then Sara, Noel, Mikaru and Coco started to realize that they had no idea where they were. They were in a small apartment, that was for sure, but they had never been there and they had no idea where this apartment was.

"Karen? Where are we?" Noel asked.

"Remember what your dream was when we first came to the human world?"

"To go to New York? Are we in New York?" Noel was so excited. She looked out of the window and saw the whole city. She didn't believe that her dream was finally fulfilled. If they weren't hunted by their enemies, she would surely like it more.

"Yes, we are"

"But… How?" Coco wondered. "Did we steal this house?"

"No, it's mine." Karen replied. "It was the prize in that song competition I took part in last year. I knew it would be useful."

"What are we going to do to train Mikaru? Her voice is good." Coco asked.

"I think that a song competition will be held here in two days. That would be a good way to help her feel confident in front of people." Sara suggested.

They thought that Sara's idea was good, and they spent the rest of the day helping the red mermaid prepare for the competition.

Sara's P.O.V.

Late at night, Sara was sitting alone, looking at the sky out of the window. She was lost in her thoughts and she didn't even notice that Coco came and stood next to her.

"What's wrong?" the yellow mermaid asked.

"I've caused so much trouble to the mermaid princesses again, and it's all because I wanted to write my own story. If I didn't hate Hanon and Luchia, if I hadn't sung my own song, nothing would be like that now. I'm just selfish"

"No, you're not! You did what you had to do!" Coco assured her.

"Who knows what would have happened if I had sung any other mermaid song? Maybe then the rest of the mermaids would be able to join me and we'd win the battle."

"Look at me, Sara" Coco said firmly "We all know that no other song would be as powerful as yours. And writing our own story is not a bad thing. We'll do it, as soon as we finish with Tsukiko and Haruko."

"You're right. And, of course, we'll save them, right?"

"Of course. You're the orange pearl mermaid princess. You're supposed to be the strongest one"

Mikaru's P.O.V.

The days passed very quickly and the time came for Mikaru to sing. They had to move fast, as news from all around the world were showing natural disasters in many cities. They knew this had to be Gaito's job, and it was going to get worse.

Thousands of people were gathered in the center of the city, and they were all looking at Mikaru. Lots of other competitors had sung before her, and she thought that she would never be as good as them. Then again, the goal wasn't to win, but to be confident. The girl knew that finding the red pearl on the ground changed her life, and now seven mermaids and the whole world of the sea depended on her. She had to do it.

 _Watashi nari ni sodateta negai  
Kirei na hana wo sakasou tte _

_Yume ga kanawanai nara akirameru nara  
Hitotsubu no tane maite okou  
_The four mermaids were smiling at her, encouraging her to go on. _  
Ima wa toumei na kaze no naka  
Shizuka ni nemuritai no tsubasa wo daite _

The audience was smiling now, too. They liked her song, and she smiled back, knowing that nothing could stop her now. Either she won the competition or not, it didn't matter.

 _Takusareta unmei no yukue sagasou  
Hitohira no maichiru hane_

Shinkirou ni sasowareru you ni  
Konna basho made kita keredo

Mikaru was enjoying it more than anything. She had stopped being that vulnerable little girl that depended on Kaito to save her, and she liked her new self. Luchia could have Kaito. Mikaru didn't need him anymore. She was independent. Finally.

 _Hitoribocchi ja nai to dareka oshiete  
Yume ga sugata wo kesu mae ni_

Kono hitomi ga utsushidasu no yo  
Kanashimi no KAKERA wo hiroiatsumete

Everyone applauded and she got off the stage to meet her friends.

"You were great!" Karen yelled. "Awesome!"

There were more than a hundred of people left to sing, and then the audience would vote for the one they liked most. The girls didn't have the time to wait. Using the magic wand, they went to the enemies' castle.

"Are you ready?" Sara asked.

"Yes." Mikaru stated firmly. "Yes, I am"

Tsukiko and Haruko didn't get up this time, instead they started laughing when they saw the mermaids at their castle.

"You seriously think you can beat us?" Tsukiko said with irony.

"What's different now? You're as weak as you were last time!" Haruko added.

"No." Mikaru said. "Red pearl voice!"

The villains laughed again. "Seven mermaids were unable to defeat us, what makes you think that a girl like you can do it?"

"Shut up!"

Everyone was shocked by her reaction. The mermaids knew she was stronger, but they never expected her to be that strong. The villains had underestimated her.

 _Nanairo no kaze ni fukarete tooi misaki wo mezashiteta  
Yoake mae kikoeta MERODI  
Sore wa totemo natsukashii uta_

Rina, Hanon and Luchia were free and they transformed. The villains were unable to move. Servants entered the room again, but this time it didn't affect Mikaru.

 _Higashi no sora e to habataku toritachi  
Saa, takarajima ni nukeru chikamichi _

The seven princesses and Mikaru were singing together, stronger than ever. Tsukiko and Haruko disappeared, losing all their power. Nobody knew where they had gone, but they didn't care. Having no power, the two villains weren't a threat now.

 _Nanatsu no umi no rakuen  
Arashi no yoru no ato ni wa ai wo tsutaerutame inochi ga mata umareru  
Nanatsu no kuni no MERODIA  
Daremo ga itsuka wa koko wo tabidatsu hi ga kitemo  
Watashi wa wasurenai_

Sara's P.O.V.

They heard someone clap his hands and turned around to see Gaito. Sara froze. She knew she'd see him at the castle, but nothing in the world could ever prepare her for it.

"You!" Luchia shouted. "How did you find your power again?"

"Unlike the dark lovers, Tsukiko and Haruko were strong enough to give me power without losing theirs. They were loyal and they shared my dream to destroy the human world."

"Your dream will never be fulfilled" Hanon said. "We'll destroy you"

"No you won't" Sara said.

Everyone looked at her, thinking that she was going to betray them again. Gaito still had the hope that Sara would come back to him one day, and he expected this to be the day he was waiting for. The mermaids were scared. Sara was the strongest of them. If she turned against them, like she did before, they were all dead.

"Go home. It's my business to deal with Gaito." she continued. "I won't betray you" the orange mermaid answered their questioning looks.

They finally left, leaving Sara and Gaito alone. The orange mermaid could no longer avoid facing him, and if she had to do it, she would do it alone.

"You understand that you have no hope now." Sara said.

"Is that so, Sara? As we speak, cities around the world are destroyed. You can't make me stop it"

"Yes, I can. I've done it before, and I can do it again."

"You think that you're the best, right? That you can do anything, even without your mermaid friends?"

"I don't think. I know."

 _Zettai!_ _  
_ _Ai dake wa subete o norikoeru_ _  
_ _Unmei kimeru seiza mo kaerareru_ _  
_ _Kiete shimae okubyou na uso mo ima mo..._

Gaito was fallen to his knees.

"What do you have to say now?" Sara said.

"You belong with me, Sara. You still have darkness inside you." This was his last chance to keep her close to him. Without Tsukiko and Haruko, and without Sara, he was now alone. It didn't really have to do with love, however, but with just having someone to share his dream with, someone to help him in his quest of destroying the human world.

"Yes, I do have darkness inside me. But I don't love you anymore, and I never will."

"So kill me. Go on. Finish it."

"No. Even if you manage to find your strength again, I'll defeat you. I'm not afraid of you, Gaito. Not anymore."

While they waited for Sara to come back, Rina was telling them the story about the quest for the red pearl, and Coco, Karen and Noel were telling the story of what happened with Mikaru. The red mermaid was there too, as now she was part of the group. Luchia wasn't very happy about that, but there weren't many things she could do.

Sara finally came back.

"What happened?" Luchia asked.

"He's no longer a threat." Sara assured them.

"That means we're a team again?" Hanon asked.

"No. That we worked together against our enemies doesn't change anything. I'm willing to help save the world if there is a danger, but I'm not going to stay here anymore."

Rina got up and looked Sara in the eye. "So what are you going to do? Can you think of any better places to go?"

"Actually, yes. I'm thinking of going to that apartment we have in New York."

"You're leaving the team?" Rina continued. She was really mad at Sara.

"Honestly, Rina, have I ever been a part of the team?"

Rina didn't answer. Coco and the twins followed Sara out of the Pearl Piari and they left.

"Seriously, what are we going to do?" Coco asked her best friend.

"We're going to write our own story"

-The end-

I hope you liked this story and I want to say thank you again to those that reviewed, favorited and followed the story! :)


	7. Update

Update: Since I haven't described Sara's, Coco's, Noel's and Karen's new dresses in the story, I decided to draw them. They took me some time but now they're ready, and I posted them on Deviantart. My account name is SaraTheSpy.

I've also written a sequel to this story, the title of which is "Nowhere to hide", but I'll stop posting new chapters for a while. I haven't abandoned it, I just decided to take a break in order to come up with more ideas for future chapters.


	8. Response to reviews

**Response to review by The all real numbers symbol**

As for running their kingdoms, the four older mermaids have enough time to do that even though they go to school or work. Luchia, Hanon and Rina also have responsibilities in the human world and manage to run their kingdoms at the same time.

As for schooling, it's true that I should have written something about it. I'll try to fix the mistake by explaining how they went to school in the sequel.

Anyway, thank you very much for your reviews!


	9. Mikaru's dress- Deviantart

Update: I have now posted Mikaru's red pearl idol and mermaid forms on deviantart. I know it doesn't really look like Mikaru, but I hope you can get an idea of how the dress is supposed to look like.


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